


The Strange Friendship of Rose Molina and Trevor Wilson

by tini_dancer



Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Friendship, I promise Bobby isn’t a bad person, I think we all know that Rose is Julie’s mom, Other, Pre-Canon, sorry there is like none of the boys or Julie in this, told over time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26926573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tini_dancer/pseuds/tini_dancer
Summary: Rose met Trevor Wilson in 1995, but back then he was just Bobby. Here is the layout of their weird relationship, told from the night they met to the last time they ever talked.
Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956655
Comments: 6
Kudos: 64





	The Strange Friendship of Rose Molina and Trevor Wilson

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -mentions of abusive household  
> -mentions of homophobia  
> -lot’s of death, but this is a show about ghosts so what do you expect
> 
> Other Notes:  
> -I originally gave Alex and Reggie last names I made up, but since the JATP instagram confirmed their real last names, I went in a fixed it to be those. Their last names here are their real ones in the show.  
> -We didn't get one for Bobby so I'm keeping in Wilkins.

If there was one thing Rose hated was how much she knew about famous rockstar Trevor Wilson. It was never in a fangirlish, stalking way, since they actually knew each other. They had met when they were teenagers, him being seventeen and her almost nineteen. She worked as a “busboy” at the famous Orpheum Theatre on the Sunset Strip of Hollywood when, one night, a young high school band was set to perform. She was at their sound check and she was mesmerized. They were really, _really_ good. Trevor had flirted with her, which she did find charming at the time, but his bandmates were hungry and had left to get hot dogs. Her and Trevor talked for a little over an hour about music, their experiences, and their inspirations. 

But the band member got worried when it had been almost 90 minutes and his bandmates hadn’t returned. He was actually getting scared, and he made it very clear to Rose that he had never been the one to worry— that title belonged to the drummer usually. But with the show starting in a little over an hour, Trevor knew the other three would never cut it close. So him and Rose left the theater to find flashing lights coming from a few alleyways away. Then went over to the scene and froze in their tracks. There were a few ambulances with gournies being stacked in, all with bodies in bags. 

“Oh God…” Trevor had choked out. Rose looked at his view and her eyes landed on one body on a gurney. The body was of a teenage boy with blond hair and a bright pink sweatshirt. It was Trevor’s drummer. They watched as they zipped up the bag and put him in an ambulance. 

Trevor’s bandmates died that night. Poison, the autopsies showed a few days later. It had come from the leaking gasoline in the car the condiments were being served out of at the hot dog stand. A total of five people died, a young couple and three teenage musicians. And Trevor was never the same after that.

It is probably wise to note that, when Rose met him, he did not go by Trevor Wilson. His name was Robert Wilkins, Bobby for short. He changed it a few years later.

Rose and Bobby talked a bit here and there as the months went on. When she changed jobs to work at an open mic cafe, Bobby would often come to watch the performances. She would sit with him and they would chat. She made sure to check up on his mental health. He said that it was never easy, but things got a little better with the time. He told her about how close they all were. He said how his house, specifically the studio, was the other three’s safe space. Bobby never went into detail, but it was clear to Rose that none of them had very good home lives. 

They never dated, for the record. Bobby would flirt from time to time, but Rose had no interest. She was a little older and had a life to plan. Bobby still needed to graduate high school. But she did help him get back into music. One day, on a chilly November Saturday, Rose had found a black and red notebook full of songs while helping him clean out the studio. Bobby looked upon it fondly. He said that there were countless Sunset Curve songs in it that were never recorded, some that they never even performed. Rose then came up with an idea to help her friend. She turned to a random page, sat at the keyboard, and started playing. After a minute of staring, Bobby grabbed his guitar and played along, singing the lyrics straight from his memory. He cried, but he admitted that he felt a lot better.

This song ended up being Trevor Wilson’s first hit single, but that is for another time.

Bobby started playing at the cafe a little. He would sing some of the slower songs, since he only had his own guitar and his voice. Even so, people absolutely loved it. He had a great voice, very unique in comparison to most rock singers, and he could play guitar like one of the greats. He started gaining a bit of a following and some small clubs offered him gigs. And Rose went to every single one to support the man who had become her best friend. She was so, so happy for him. And every time he dedicated his performance to his late friends, she shed a tear.

It was in 1997 when things started to change.

“They want me to change my name.”

Rose looked up at him from the couch, “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Bobby shook his head, “Something about needing to break away from my dead band and start over.”

“That’s really inconsiderate,” Rose replied.

Bobby nodded and joined her on the couch in the studio, which had been almost completely cleared of anything Sunset Curve, “But this is such a big deal. Capitol Records wants to sign me. I would have to be a complete idiot to say no.”

She said, “And I get that. And what I think is that you need to come to a compromise. Maybe take less money and you can keep your name?”

“This is a make or break deal, Rose. These people are way more experienced than me. They understand how the music industry works inside and out,” he paused, then let out a huge sigh, “Maybe I do need to stop connecting myself with Sunset Curve.”

“Bobby…”

He stopped her, “Just hear me out. They’ve been gone for over two years now. Making it big like this was their dream, and they never got to make it. I could make it big for them. But… not everyone likes hearing the sob story about how Bobby Wilkins lost three friends from high school to tainted hot dogs. It’s both depressing and kind of stupid-“

Rose butted in angrily, “Your bandmates _dying_ is not stupid.”

“They were nobodies!” Bobby cried out, “No one in school cared about us, especially them. Alex? He was shoved into lockers and had food thrown at him almost every day because he was the only person in our entire grade who was openly gay. Reggie was seen at this angsty nerd with the brain of a young Einstein, yet would show up with bruises on his face. And Luke? He had no desire to be at school at all, knowing he wanted to be a rocker, and would be in detention almost every week because he constantly skipped school to write songs and practice on his own. I was the only one who wasn’t a laughingstock out of the four of us. My classmates would constantly ask me why I associated myself with them. And now that I don’t have to deal with them every day? I can kind of see where they were all coming from. And even though they were ridiculed and outcast, they were the closest friends I had ever met. The three of them were stuck like glue, and I was barely hanging on with them. I was never really a part of their group. I think it’s about time that I break myself off for good.”

Rose couldn’t recall exactly how she replied, but she knew there was a lot of screaming, a lot of tears, and a broken friendship left behind. Rose simply left Bobby’s house and never went back. She cut off ties with him and focused on her own life. 

She started teaching piano lessons in 1998. Most of her clients were young kids, with a few teens and adults here and there. Her sister would come over sometimes and help prepare lessons, which Rose was very thankful for. Even though Victoria was the only kid who actually went to college, she was very supportive of Rose’s decision to pursue music. She even helped with some advertising, which helped Rose gain more students and more money. Some of her students were from rich families, and they always paid extra. She was able to rent a bigger apartment and make it look nice and elegant. And it was through this profession that she met Ray Molina.

He was picking his young nephew up from his lesson with Rose to take him to a baseball game after. As the little boy packed up his music sheets, the two had started talking. Ray, being awkward but sweet, asked her out before he left. One thing led to another, and the two were engaged by 2001.

It was that same year when Rose heard an eerily familiar song on the radio on her way back from the grocery store. She couldn’t remember exactly where she had heard it, but it was really good nonetheless. The artist was Trevor Wilson, a young up and coming rock artist right from LA. The radio host mentioned a performance at the Orpheum Theatre that coming Friday. And she ended up going, but it wasn’t really her choice.

Ray, at the time, worked for a small time magazine that was doing a story on Trevor Wilson. He was sent to take pictures for the article, and of course he brought his beautiful fiancée along with him. Rose was excited for the most part, but all of that went away when she saw who Trevor Wilson was.

After the show, she sent Ray ahead of her, saying she wanted to catch up with some old friends who still worked there. Of course that’s not what she did. She went backstage and found Trevor, getting his attention by saying she loved the first song.

There was more yelling, Rose not being able to believe Bobby had ever gone through with the deal. It turned out he had spent a few years writing his debut album, but from what Rose could tell, he didn’t write most of the songs he performed. One of them was even on the Sunset Curve demo she was given back in 1995, which she listened to whenever she felt sad. Bobby barely sang on that CD, so she didn’t have to deal with him. But it wasn’t a Sunset Curve song anymore. It was a Trevor Wilson song, and his album had hit the Billboard Hot 100 the very next week.

They didn’t talk again for a few more years. Rose had been recently married to Ray, and both were thriving in their field. Rose had opened her own music shop, hiring some teachers and renting out a place in West Hollywood. Ray had started his own photography company as well, and both were making good money. In 2003, they bought a nice house in Los Feliz. The one thing Ray didn’t know is that Rose had been to this house on multiple occasions before. Because, of course, they had bought and moved into what used to be the Wilkins household.

Rose was against the selling of the instruments in the loft of the garage. She told her husband that she might want to use them for her students, but in truth, she didn’t want the last piece of Sunset Curve, in which the three deceased members had been gone eight years by then, to be forgotten. She wasn’t going to forget them. So a guitar, a bass, a drum kit and sticks, and a keyboard laid up collecting dust as Rose made the studio her own. She got a grand piano, decorated the place to her liking, and started a little greenhouse in the back.

In 2004, Julianna Molina was born. She was the most beautiful, cutest little thing Rose had ever laid her eyes on. Little Julie had this twinkle in her eye that caught everyone’s attention. From the moment she was born, Rose knew she would always be proud of her daughter.

About a year and a half later, while watching Julie play with a little xylophone, Rose got a call from a very unexpected person.

“Hello?”

“ _Rose? Is that you?_ ”

She was astounded, “Bobby? What are you-“

“ _Look, I know you have a lot of crap against me. I deserve it coming from you, I guess. But I have a bit of a problem and I don’t know what to do._ ”

“And that is?”

He took a moment to respond, then, “ _My wife just left me. She packed up all of her things and left overnight a few days ago. And I don’t know how to take care of our daughter_.”

So that is the story of how Julie Molina and Carrie Wilson became best friends, and how Rose Molina and Trevor Wilson reconnected. From the very beginning, Rose would take Julie over to the Wilson mansion and the little toddlers would run around playing, making a mess of things. Rose, as well as Ray, helped Trevor learn how to take care of Carrie as a single father. It included many nights over, but it was worth it. Not only because of how close Julie and Carrie had become, but because Trevor finally got to apologize for what happened in 1997. 

“I’m in too deep now,” he told her at 2am one night, when the girls were long asleep, “I should have done what you said and compromised. Even if I had still changed my name, I should have convinced me to let me credit Luke and the other guys for the songs. Luke was such a genius. But now I can’t. No one knows who Bobby Wilkins is. No one knows about Luke Patterson, Alex Mercer, or Reggie Peters. Sunset Curve is in the ground deeper than six feet. I wish I could change it, but it’s too late.”

Rose shook her head, “Why did you take the deal in the first place?”

“I was young and stupid. And still grieving, to be honest. I miss those guys so much. Even if I was a little bit of an outcast, they were still my family. But now I can’t even tell my own daughter about them when she gets older. Her legal name is Wilson. She has no clue who I was before, and she can’t. She never will.”

It sucked, really sucked, but Rose was understanding. And just like Carrie didn’t know the truth, neither did Ray or Julie. The two families were very close for many years. Together, Rose and Trevor introduced music to their daughters. The four of them would spend hours talking about the history of rock and other genres, and they would play together. Both Julie and Carrie had beautiful voices that melted together well. They loved singing. Carrie had grown fond of the performative aspect and started taking dance classes, while Julie stuck to the piano. They even tried to get Carlos, Julie’s younger brother, into music, but it was not his thing. Baseball ended up becoming that. But the families were air tight, and it was wonderful. Until it wasn’t.

“Where’s Julie?” Trevor asked one day when Rose stopped by in 2018.

“Back home,” she replied, sitting on the pristine white couch in the massive living room, “I need to tell you something.”

Trevor sat next to her on the couch, and it suddenly felt like they were back in the studio, with him telling her that he wanted to take the deal.

“Trev…” she couldn’t lie with him, “Bobby, I’m sick.”

“...sick?”

“Breast cancer,” she looked to the ground, “stage two, but I think it’ll be stage three sooner than later.”

Not another word was said. Instead, he hugged her tight and they cried together. Again, it felt like they were young again, this time Rose hugging a grieving Bobby in 1995, not even a month after he lost his bandmates.

That next year wasn’t good at all. Rose got increasingly worse, and Trevor couldn’t always be there. He wasn’t present at all in the last few months, for Carrie and Julie had had a major falling out and Trevor wanted to be there for his daughter. For her whole life it had only been them two. And Rose deserved to be spending her final moments with her family, not a friend.

The last time Rose and Trevor ever talked was a week before she passed. She called to say that things were looking bleak, but that she wanted to let him know that she loved him. 

“ _We’ve been through some crap, I’ll tell you that_ ,” she chuckled, then got into a small coughing fit, “ _but I am so grateful to have had you in my life._ ”

He let out a sob then said, “I don’t want to lose you. I’ve already lost three friends. I can’t lose you, too.”

“ _You will heal, Bobby. You did with the boys, and you will with me._ ”

“You mean so much to me, Rose.”

“ _Same here. I love you, Bobby._ ”

“I love you, too.”

Rose died in August of 2019.

And in late September of 2020, there Trevor was, staring in astonishment at the sight before him.

Up on the stage at the Orpheum Theatre was Julie, and what looked to be the ghosts of Luke, Reggie, and Alex.

And a dahlia on the keyboard.

  
  
  
  



End file.
